Contemplation
by blackpearl.fantasy
Summary: After AWE, the 3 main characters think about the aftereffects of the battle and the new life they aren't sure they're ready to lead. A collection of 3 oneshots of about the shortest chapters EVER, sorry. As always, plz R&R! Major AWE spoilers! Completed!
1. Elizabeth

A/N: AWE made me cry! I feel so sad for Calypso. And Elizabeth and Will! And Jack... Anyways, hope you like this! AWE spoilers!

Disclaimer: PotC (sigh) belongs to Disney.

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**_Elizabeth_**

_Ten years. Ten years before I see him again. _

I was sitting on the beach, sifting the sand with my toes, with a sense of hopelessness.

I wondered without caring whether or not the Court of Brethren would call another meeting; whether or not the East India Trading Company would rise to power. But these things did not matter to me anymore. I was nearly traumatized.

And all of a sudden, without warning, I burst into tears. I felt the warm salty drops slide down my face and my throat contracting and opening again with each shuddering breath I took. Was it fair that this was happening to me?! Had I really done something terrible enough to deserve this?!

Perhaps I had. I had killed Jack, but I had sailed to World's End to find him. He had forgiven, me hadn't he? He had voted me king, he had trusted my decision to fight...

I found myself wishing I had never become a pirate. I wished I had never taken the medallion from Will, never worn that stupid corset and fallen into the water for Jack to save, never fallen in love with Will... No. The marriage, despite the chaotic surroundings, had been the happiest and sweetest moment of my life.

_It's always belonged to you, _he had said, indicating his heart. I was guarding it for him, I would guard it as long as mine beat in my chest.

I had heard, that if Calypso had remained faithful to Davy Jones after his ten years, he would have been free.

_So if I remain faithful for ten years..._

It seemed impossible, it seemed ridiculous, it seemed too wonderful to think about, but I knew that I would remain faithful to Will. I would be awaiting his return every moment of the long ten years that stretched ahead of me.

Ten years. One day together, every ten years. Jack had saved him. Jack had given up his oppurtunity of immortality to save Will. Or it would be a lifetime before I could see Will again, in the next world.

Jack. I smiled faintly at the bittersweet memories. He was a good man, noble, even, perhaps, after what he had done. And I felt even worse. I had never apologized. I vowed to do that one day. I would see him again one day, in a friendship way. It had never worked between us, but I would be forever grateful. One day, when Will was freed, maybe we would embark on another journey with Jack, to repay him, to help him find the Fountain of Youth or whatever else he wanted.

Yes, Will would be freed. I was nearly ready for my new life now.

If the Court of Brethren called another meeting, I would be there to attend it. If the East India Trading Company took control again, I would be there to fight. And when I reached victory, at the end of ten long years, I would be right here, on the beach with the chest, waiting faithfully for Will to return.


	2. Jack

A/N: Gosh sorry this took so long, I was working on my other fanfic. Jack's contemplating is in third person, and it happens right before the "Drink up me hearties yo ho!" scene. Please review!

Disclaimer: Potc belongs to Disney.

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_**Jack**_

For a long while he wondered whether or not he had done the right thing.

He had given up his chance of immortality, sacrificed what he wanted most, to save Will's life. He wondered if he had ever done anything noble like that before.

Elizabeth had always said he was a good man.

He remembered that he had refused the last kiss she could have given him--look what happened to him the last time she kissed him. But somehow, now he felt that he probably should have let her... after all, there wasn't anything after them then, and she couldn't have done anything so quickly, with everyone watching... Could she have? It was possible, for someone like Elizabeth, but still he wished he hadn't stopped her...

_She's definitely become a much stronger woman_, he thought, chuckling to himself as he compared her with the governor's daughter he had met a long time ago in Port Royal. _Captain Swann. Pirate king. _

He slapped himself a little.

"Of all the people," he muttered, "you're thinking about _her. _She killed you, and you're--" He sighed a little. He _had_ forgiven her. And he had to admit to himself, he _did_ still like her.

_"It would never have worked out between us_,_"_ _she said. _

He had said that himself, the day they saved him from the gallows. He had never properly thanked them for that, now that he thought of it...

But he had saved Will. He could remember it so vividly that the scene formed itself before him.

_It happened so fast--in no time Jones had stabbed the boy. Will was slumped on deck, the sword sticking out of his chest. He could tell that it was mortally wounding him. Blood was seeping onto his shirt. Bootstrap had started to battle his captain._

_And he stood there, with the pulsing heart in his hand. He looked wildly from it to Will, back and forth. He already had the knife in his other hand, ready to stab--and he looked again toward Will. _

_Elizabeth was crouched next to him, tears streaming down her face._

_"Will!" she screamed desperately. "Stay with me!"_

_He could see the love and pain etched in her face. And he stood there, torn by indecision. Something told him to just stab the heart, to gain what he had been wanting for years and years... and if the whelp did die, then Elizabeth would be his... but no. Hestared at her frantic expression, her face soaked and her hair hanging limply. She needed this, she needed it more than he did. _

_"Will!"_

_And he made his decision. He would give it up, he would sacrifice it. He would do it for her. _

Yes, he had done it for her, he concluded. He had done it for her happiness, to ensure that she could at least see Will once every ten years, instead of never again. To give her what she deserved--regardless of what she had done to him before, and even if it woud never have worked out between them.

He sat in the little dinghy and unrolled the center of the chart that he had stolen from Barbossa.

"How did I know he would take the ship?" he muttered. But he wasn't angry--he had been expecting that Barbossa would steal the _Pearl_. He didn't really mind; at least he didn't have to watch Barbossa sail away for the _third_ time. Still, he did miss those black sails.

_She's only a ship, mate. _He had said that before, too. The day they had to abandon ship. The day that Elizabeth--he stopped. _Quit trying to think about her! She's married, it's not going to do you any good!_

So he thought about the _Pearl_. Barbossa still had it at the end, which didn't please him, but he had something better--the chart. And he had his compass and his rum. He'd search for his immortality another way... and perhaps one day he would see Elizabeth again. Perhaps the Brethren Court would call another meeting and she would be there. Perhaps.

And meanwhile... the compass pointed to the rum.

"Drink up me hearties yo ho!"


	3. Will

A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

Disclaimer: Potc belongs to Disney.

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_I love her. _

That was all he could think. Perhaps that was all he knew. Perhaps that was all there was to his world now. But almost gone. One last shard, just about to be shattered.

_One day on land, ten days at sea. _

Forever.

_How many times can I see her? _

He would be living this way forever, but she was still mortal.

_Elizabeth!_

It seemed so impossible that someday... she would be gone and he would see her again for the last time, ferrying her soul to the next world. It seemed so impossible that someday he would have to live knowing she was not there, waiting for him. But it would happen.

_Perhaps only six or seven times. _

And all because of bloody Jack Sparrow.

_"It's always belonged to you," he said, indicating the chest with his heart beating inside it. "Will you keep it safe for me?" And she looked at him tenderly._

_"Yes. Yes!" And she ran to him, the sunset glowing behind them, and they threw their arms around each other in a last farewell embrace. And the sun sank lower._

"Keep a weather eye on the horizon," he whispered now. It was interesting to know his father, to be a captain, but his world was empty without her.

And Jack had saved him. He was almost certain that Jack would stab the heart himself, for his own personal gain, after all, he had never known Jack to do anything he didn't profit from it. And he was almost certain that Jack would be free to love Elizabeth if he died. But Jack had given him his life again, after that terrible and excrutiating pain... He did not want to think about the pain. He would think about Elizabeth--she was all he wanted to think about.

There was the legend, his father had said, about the lover remaining faithful. Could it be true? He knew she would stay there, waiting for ten years.

How long was ten years? He had never bothered counting. But now, it was all so heavy on him--ten years, without Elizabeth, of seeing the same flickering light on the same ceaselessly moving water. Doing the same thing, ferrying dead souls.

Elizabeth would wait. She would stay strong, wouldn't she? He had seen how she had grown up since the day Norrington proposed.

_"The Brethren Court will look to the _Black Pearl _to lead, and what will they see? They will see free men! They will see freedom!"_

_"Gentlemen," she cried, her voice full of passion and strength, "Hoist the colors!"_

She would stay strong at heart, and meanwhile... he would remember. He would count off every day of every of the ten years, and when there were none left to count, he would be sailing to the island on the _Flying Dutchman_, and when she looked up into the Caribbean sunset, she would see a flash of green on the horizon.


End file.
